Castell de la Trinitat is located on the Gulf of Roses,

Alt Empordà Alt Empordà (; ; "Upper Empordà") is a Comarques of Catalonia, comarca (county) located in the Comarques Gironines, Girona region, in Catalonia, Spain. It is one of two comarques into which Empordà was divided by the comarca division of Catalo ...

comarca,

Province of Girona The Province of Girona ( ; ) is a Provinces of Spain, province in the northeastern part of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Catalonia, Spain. It is bordered on the northwest by the province of Lleida, on the southwest ...

Catalonia Catalonia is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a ''nationalities and regions of Spain, nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia of 2006, Statute of Autonomy. Most of its territory (except the Val d'Aran) is situate ...

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

. Along with the Ciutadella de Roses, it provided defenses for the town of

Roses A rose is either a woody perennial flowering plant of the genus ''Rosa'' (), in the family Rosaceae (), or the flower it bears. There are over three hundred species and tens of thousands of cultivars. They form a group of plants that can be e ...

. The name comes from a chapel built in 1508, which was destroyed, along with a defense tower that stood in the area, when the castle was built, ordered by Emperor Charles V (Carlos I) in 1543. Work began on January 2, 1544 and the castle was completed in mid 1551 under the Spanish engineer Luis Pizano. In 1808, it was defended for twelve days by

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...

sailors and

Royal Marines The Royal Marines provide the United Kingdom's amphibious warfare, amphibious special operations capable commando force, one of the :Fighting Arms of the Royal Navy, five fighting arms of the Royal Navy, a Company (military unit), company str ...

under the command of Captain Thomas, Lord Cochrane, supported by Catalan militia and regulars, and the damage inflicted by the besieging French and Italian artillery was compounded by an immense explosion of gunpowder barrels from Cochrane's frigate , laid by him to deny the investing French control of the sea approaches to the Bay of Rosas. It was built in the shape of a five-pointed star for defence purposes. The construction is about 18–20 metres high, with thick walls, and designed to house a garrison of about 350 men. The Castell de la Trinitat was declared a

Bien de Interés Cultural (, , , ) is a category of the heritage register in Spain. The term is also used in Colombia and other Spanish-speaking countries. The term literally means a "good of cultural interest" ("goods" in the economic sense). It includes not only mater ...

landmark in 1988. Derelict for nearly 200 years, it underwent restoration amounting to about 2 million euros between 2002 and 2010, and a museum was established at the site. It reopened to the public on 26 September 2010.

Gallery

File:Castell de la Trinitat, entrada cos de guàrdia.jpg File:Castell Trinitat Innenaufnahme 3.JPG File:Castell de la Trinitat, antic forn.jpg

References

;Bibliography *C. Díaz, H. Palou i A. M. Puig, ''La Ciutadella de Roses'', Quaderns de la revista de Girona, 2004. *Reay, Justin, "The Royal Navy in the Bay of Rosas, 1808-09", in C. Diaz, R. Pedler and J. Reay, El Setge de Roses de 1808, Ajuntament de Roses 2008, pp88–133 and 240-284. *Reay, Justin, "A Place of Considerable Importance: Lord Cochrane at the Siege of Rosas 1808", The Mariner's Mirror November 2009, available at Oxford University Research Archive at http://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:2bc4c3b7-fb89-452c-a0a2-51dd6e95de30. *Pujol i Hamelink, Marcel, ''La vila de Roses (segles XIV i XVI)'', Roses: Ajuntament de Roses, 1997. *De la Fuente, Pablo, ''Les fortificacions reials del golf de Roses a l'època moderna'', Roses: Ajuntament de Roses, 1998.

External links

{{Authority control Buildings and structures completed in 1551 Castles in Catalonia Alt Empordà Bien de Interés Cultural landmarks in the Province of Girona 1551 establishments in Spain